By the Way, Your Hands Were Shaking
by Spring Zephyr
Summary: Todoroki finds himself participating in a girls' night with Momo and a handful of her friends. (Shippy gen, touch-starved Todoroki.)


**Zephyr is returning to their usual routine of writing gen, extremely light shipping, and general ace-ness. The TodoMomo is there if you squint and if you want it to be, haha.**

"...Why are your faces green?" Todoroki asked, stunned.

That wasn't entirely accurate. Normal flesh-colored circles remained around each of the girls' eyes and mouths, while the rest of their faces down to their necks had been painted a pale, pasty green. It reminded Todoroki of a panda bear. When he'd wandered into the common room twenty minutes before curfew, looking for something to drink, green panda bears were the last thing he'd expected to see.

Yaoyorozu, making a rare appearance with her hair down, let out a small laugh. "It's just a face mask."

She was doing that little half smile again, the one where she kind of smiled at you and kind of looked toward the ground at the same time – the one Todoroki thought she always made when she was embarrassed, maybe. Between the curtain of hair and the green mask, it was hard to tell. She wouldn't meet his eyes.

"You said you had an older sister, right?" Yaoyorozu continued, imploring.

She was sitting with a group of five other girls – Uraraka, Jirou, Ashido, a couple from Class B – several of whom suddenly paused in what they were doing, stopped to stare at Yaoyorozu like she'd done something wrong. Jirou never ceased fiddling with her phone, and Uraraka politely looked away after a moment's time. It wasn't as though Fuyumi's existance was a secret, but Todoroki supposed it might as well have been when their father garnered so much more time in the spotlight.

Ashido, for some reason, seemed to find that little tidbit extremely interesting. "Did you know Todoroki had a sister?" she whispered, poking the girl on her left. She did the same to Jirou on her right, "Did he mention her in class or something?"

People cared about the Pro Hero Endeavor, or All Might, or whoever they were a fan of – shouldn't have been that surprising to learn that any of them had a family hardly anyone was interested in talking about. Fans forgot their favorite heroes had families constantly.

"Eh, maybe his sister isn't the type to care about girly crap like face masks," Jirou replied, still punching her fingers into her phone. Todoroki caught a glimpse of what looked to be some kind of music game, with an anime character dancing to some upbeat song as Jirou chased notes across the screen. "How many siblings he has isn't your business anyway."

"And why is Uraraka still in her uniform?" Todoroki asked, while Ashido whined something he didn't quite catch back to Jirou.

Uraraka was the only one not wearing pajamas. Even if he ignored what time of night it was, she stood out when sitting next to Yaoyorozu in her frilly, high-collared nightgown, or Jirou in her simple black and plaid. Mina was dressed in a loose top and a pair of rainbow and kitten print pajama bottoms, which somehow suited her. Todoroki himself had changed just a few minutes ago, into a dark blue flannel shirt and bottoms, and was currently contemplating the way the common's ragged carpeting felt under his bare feet.

"Oh, you know," one of the Class B girls, the one Todoroki thought might have had a lizard-related Quirk, replied with a laugh, "In case Mineta or any other pervy boys try to act weird about seeing a bunch of gorgeous girls right before bedtime."

"T-that's not true at all!"  
"Unfortunately," Jirou grumbled, "Mineta has already seen everyone in their pajamas."

"It's the common room," Ashido pointed out. "Everyone has already seen everyone in their pajamas."

She did not, Todoroki noticed, say that with a particularly happy expression. Understandable, when Mineta was included in that "everyone".

"Yeah, but it's twice as creepy when the little grape perv is trying to sneak glimpses down everyone's shirt."

"Why would he do that?" Todoroki wondered out loud.

For a moment, he received the same treatment Yaoyorozu had earlier – getting stared at by almost all of the girls, while Yaoyorozu herself gazed very intently at a spot on the ground. For a split second, even Jirou missed a beat on her game. Uraraka appeared flustered. Ashido was the one who looked at him most intensely, while the 2-B girls exchanged looks of amusement and curiosity.

"In case anyone's not wearing a bra," Ashido informed him finally.

"...Oh."

Somebody coughed. Todoroki didn't see who it was, because he was too preoccupied with the warmth from one side of his face taking over the other half. Bakugo was no longer permitted to call him Icyhot or Half'n'Half anymore, no, because Todoroki was now comprised of a single element; a single element known as embarrassment.

"I'll be on my way," Todoroki excused himself quickly, at the same time the chestnut haired girl from 1-B (Kendo? He knew she was one of Yaoyorozu's friends, at any rate) began to snicker.

"He's not like the other guys, is he?"

"Come on," Ashido huffed. "Not every guy is like Mineta!"

Todoroki would have ran the rest of the way to the sink, had Yaoyorozu's voice not called him back. "You could sit with us, if you'd like," she offered, a little breathlessly. "We won't kick you out of the common room, like... Since you're not going to be untoward, and you don't seem to think we're being weird or anything."

"People think this is weird?" Todoroki replied.

And that was how, only a few moments later, Todoroki found himself sitting cross-legged and across from a half circle of girls, a scattering of debris including wash cloths and hair clips and partially filled water cups. He had no idea who it belonged to. None of the girls had heard him ask for a drink, and Todoroki had grown impatient with waiting. He just hoped whoever it belonged to wouldn't mind as he took quiet sips from one of them and watched Ashido and the lizard girl, Tokage, argue over who would get to pin his hair back.

They were all wearing headbands or hair ties or hair clips, pinning their bangs back from their foreheads, he now noticed. Yaoyorozu's was just dark enough to match her hair, so he hadn't seen it at first.

"I'm surprised you're letting us do this to you," Kendo announced, the words punctuated by a pleased laugh.

Yaoyorozu, on the other hand, sighed. "I'm sorry, Todoroki. I didn't think they would force you to take part."

"I agreed to do it," Todoroki replied earnestly.

Kendo had her arms crossed, watching the end of Ashido and Tokage's bickering and observing Todoroki's relaxed posture approvingly. "Well, if at any point you _un_agree, let us know right away."

"Although I don't know why you'd agree in the first place," Uraraka remarked dryly. "Give in _one time_, and suddenly they'll want to do your make up every day."

She sounded like she spoke from experience, but also like that experience hadn't been as harrowing as she wanted it to sound. Still. Todoroki thought he might have to draw the line at having his make up done. He'd watched Fuyumi powdering her face in the bathroom one morning, and the scent of the powder up close (maybe he shouldn't have stuck his nose so close to the compact) had made him sneeze. Plus he barely woke up in time for breakfast most days.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jirou questioned nobody in particular, speaking up for the first time since Todoroki had sat down.

Not all of the girls had quite warmed up to the idea. Jirou, most notably.

"I promise I won't look down anyone's shirts," Todoroki soothed, because that had apparently been an issue earlier.

It had the opposite affect he'd intended, as Jirou's jaw nearly touched the floor and Tokage howled loudly. Uraraka's hands were hovering mid-air, kind of flailing, her fists opening and closing like she was trying to grab at words. Ashido's palm hit her forehead, and came away slightly greener than before.

In an attempt to fix whatever social boundary he'd just broken, Todoroki continued, "Actually, I'm already used to it. My older sister is one of those 'sleeps in their underwear' type people – "

"You can't say stuff like that out loud!" Jirou scolded, and Todoroki was lucky she didn't jab him in the eye with one of her earjacks, like she clearly wanted to.

"Think about how your sister would feel!"

"And you _especially_ can't say stuff like that in front of the other boys!"

He heard Ashido, who was sitting close by, sigh and mutter, "I can never tell if he's joking or if he's serious..."

Todoroki resisted the urge to slump his shoulders and sink into himself. They probably would've continued for a while, had Kendo not loudly clapped her hands and stolen everyone's attention.

"Quiet down, everyone," she began. "You know the teachers are only allowing us to do this because we promised to _behave_. And Tokage, Ashido? We have thirteen, maybe twelve minutes left. Hurry up and decide who's doing what, or you'll have to wait and see if Todoroki joins us next time instead."

What did Yaoyorozu think of him now, Todoroki wondered, as he uttered a quick mental apology to Fuyumi for betraying her secret.

"I'll pick out a hairclip," Ashido volunteered.

"I'll touch Todoroki's head," Tokage agreed.

Ashido tossed a sparkly pink clip in her direction, and the lizard girl grinned a little too widely as she narrowed the distance between them. She brushed her hands against Todoroki's forehead, resting one hand underneath his bangs for a fraction of a second before it smoothly glided upwards to the crown of his head, taking all of the hair with it. A small jolt shot through his body when she grazed his scar – barely touched it, but the skin there was still sensitive and tingled afterward from the effects of friction.

Something in his stomach churned unpleasantly. He normally avoided touching that side of his face. Had barely allowed Fuyumi to touch it while it was still healing, when she'd begged for permission to clean it. But accidents happened, as Todoroki was well aware –

"Ooooh, Todoroki's hair is so silky smooth!" Tokage cooed, effectively distracting him.

She gathered the strands of his bangs into one clump with her other hand, and clamped them back and to the top of his head with the clip. Todoroki's forehead felt... exposed, for lack of a better word. Colder, somehow, without that thin layer of hair in place.

"Ashido, you gotta feel this."

"That's enough, you two," Kendo chided, but not before the rest of Todoroki's hair had been thoroughly rumpled by Mina's energetic hands. "Start washing your faces off."

Even Uraraka and Jirou wore matching expressions of curiosity, with Uraraka leaning forward on her palms, eyebrows furrowed, as she contemplated Todoroki's wide-eyed daze. Yaoyorozu's expression was unreadable.

"You know, the mask won't have time to completely dry before the common room is closed," Yaoyorozu piped up.

"He can wash it off on his own," Ikeda promised. "He has two working hands."

"We only brought enough towels for the six of us."

"I'm sure it's not that hard to find towels in the dorms, somewhere."

"I don't mind," Todoroki spoke up, in case that was the reason Yaoyorozu was contemplating her hands again. "I'm curious. About what it feels like."

"Your skin is going to be as soft as your hair," Ashido said.

"It's not going to make you a better hero or anything," Yaoyorozu added.

"So you're doing this... just to make your skin softer?"

"Yes."

"It helps with acne too," Uraraka chimed in.

"Will it fix my scar?"

"Todoroki," Yaoyorozu replied gently, "No."

Todoroki nodded.

Her voice was somewhere between a sigh and a whisper. He didn't understand why, but he trusted Yaoyorozu. Trusted that the _feelings_, the concern, he heard in that voice was genuine. And Todoroki wasn't the best at feelings himself, but he knew that he admired Yaoyorozu, that she had the inexplicable ability to make his heart speed up, to lower his barriers like he'd never put any up in the first place.

Somebody handed Todoroki the opened bottle of face cream, likely as a means to end the awkward lull in conversation. Todoroki Shouto, hand crusher, son of the world's most heroic villain. Now he could add conversation killer to the list.

The cream, Todoroki learned, was not actually that creamy. It had more the consistency of wet clay, and the experimental glob on his finger was shinier and a darker shade of green than the girls' masks were. He was supposed to just spread this on his face?

Having Ashido and Tokage touching his hair had been surprisingly tolerable. He wouldn't have minded if Yaoyorozu, for example, were to help him next, but it seemed as though he was expected to do this part on his own.

Before he'd finished, the girls had settled back into their (what he assumed, before he'd interrupted) previous conversations, with only Uraraka breaking to show him the hand mirror or give him advice every now and again. "Massage it into your skin", "spread it a little thicker", "avoid getting any in your eyebrows". Easier said than done.

"The only thing I miss about going to normal school are the sports clubs..."

"Out of our entire class, I think Hiryu got the best internship..."

"Apparently, the author didn't work well with the original studio..."

After a while, one of the sensei entered the room, barely batted an eye at Todoroki's presence, and announced it was time for lights out for the entire dorm.

"Wash your face off in the bathroom," Kendo ordered, one of the last people to leave, with a friendly pat on the shoulder. "It's actually supposed to sit for about ten more minutes, but, well..."

Over the course of time, the mask had begun to harden in a few places. He noticed the slightest bit of resistance as he said "okay", nothing extreme, but certainly enough to register as unusual. Like clay. So perhaps Todoroki's previous observation hadn't been that far off.

He was exiting the bathroom on the boys' side of the dorm when he made another observation; the faint sound of footsteps approaching from his right. Footsteps belonging to a tall figure with dark hair, wearing an ivory nightgown with a long hem that swayed with every movement...

"Yaoyorozu?" he remarked, surprised.

"Ah." Her voice caught too, equally caught off guard, despite having been the one to follow him. "It's me, yes."

"What are you...?"

"Just wanted to see if you needed – help, um. It's a little bit tricky, the first time, because the mask gets stuck in your eyebrows, and – " Todoroki did recall Uraraka telling him something like that. "fWell, I decided to follow you in case you wanted help, but. Obviously. Haha, it was silly of me to think you'd need assistance in the first place… Oh, but I guess Ashido will want her barrette back. It might raise too many questions from _certain people_ if you gave it back to her in class."

"Not that hard," Kendo had said.

"I-I'll just be going now."

"Wait," Todoroki said. And she stopped walking immediately, just like he had when Yaoyorozu had called to him twenty minutes ago. "Yaoyorozu. Tell me what you really wanted."

Todoroki didn't really understand emotions. He didn't know why most people said what they did, or behaved a certain way.

But he was starting to understand Yaoyorozu.

"Does your scar still hurt you?"

The girl standing in front of him, the vague shape of Yaoyorozu in the dark, appeared to rub her arms nervously.

"When Tokage clipped your hair back, I noticed you flinched. And, uh, you kind of avoided touching it yourself, for a while."

Todoroki paused, thinking.

"Did I flinch?"

"I didn't want to say anything. I thought if they were making you uncomfortable, you'd prefer to speak up for yourself rather than have me do it."

"...It doesn't hurt," Todoroki decided finally.

He'd hesitated to touch his left side until the very end. The mask covering his scar had been a little thinner. Despite that, it was an old wound.

"Are you sure?"

"You can touch it yourself, if you'd like."

She was the type of person who preferred to prove things with her own two eyes. Her brilliant mind. Her sense of touch, as it were. Still, she also hesitated. Todoroki could picture it in his mind, the way she nibbled on her bottom lip, eyebrows furrowed with consideration.

If she objected, Todoroki wouldn't complain – but his chest made a weird little twinge at the thought that she might.

Tokage and Ashido's hair tousling, Kendo's shoulder clap. Points of contact that sent shivery little sparks across his skin, but he hadn't minded any of them. Although he could only imagine they would've felt so much better had those been Yaoyorozu's hands in every situation instead.

"All right." Seconds ticked by. Yaoyorozu raised her hands, slowly. "Since I have your permission."

The twinge in Todoroki's chest grew a little stronger, like his heart was practicing a gymnastics routine. Odd, but he only ever felt this way around Yaoyorozu.

"You're probably wondering why I wasn't in my room, doing homework or something," Yaoyorozu guessed correctly. She cupped his face with her hands, the pads of her thumbs resting against his jawline. "It was Ashido's idea. She invited Hagakure and Asui too, but... Hagakure is too worried about that math test coming up." With a dry laugh, she continued, "I suppose that means Asui is just a more diligent student than I am."

"You don't have anything to worry about," Todoroki assured her.

Yaoyorozu was the smartest student in their class. And in the event she did fall behind... what would he do? Help her catch up?

Yeah, he would offer to help her catch up, but it wouldn't matter because it was Yaoyorozu and Yaoyorozu would never let her grades fall.

"Kendo said I deserved some time off too. I asked her to come with me. Tokage kind of happened to be in hearing range, and invited herself along."

As she spoke, mumbling to herself more than anything, her left hand traveled upwards. Fingers ghosted over his forehead, and Todoroki exhaled deeply through his nose. Gossamer touches, like walking through a cobweb, uncertain if it was really there or not, turned into gentle caresses, long drags down the side of his face as Yaoyorozu observed the texture, the seam where scar tissue met flesh. She brushed his bangs to the side, perhaps curious as to whether it was as soft as the other two had said, and traced his eyebrow.

Eventually, the wandering touches gave way to experimental pokes and presses. Todoroki tensed his jaw, determined not to show his distress, but of course his right cheek was resting contentedly against Yaoyorozu's other hand, and she noticed anyway.

"Who did this to you?" Yaoyorozu breathed softly.

She withdrew her hands, but they hovered nearby, like wanted to touch him again. Todoroki wanted her to.

How curious, that she knew instinctively it was a _who_ and not a _what_.

"N-nevermind. It's not my place to... You don't have to tell me, and I apologize if I unburied any painful memories."

"It's okay," Todoroki assured her.

And then he recounted the same story of his past that he'd told Midoriya at the sports festival. Because he wanted to be closer to Yaoyorozu than anyone else.

**This is probably the second or third longest oneshot I've ever written. Uh... reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, I guess?**


End file.
